


Unexpected Meetings

by Cait_Sidhe



Series: The Accidental Vampire [8]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Biting, Blood Drinking, Boys Kissing, Canon-Typical Violence, Darkness, Destiny Islands (Kingdom Hearts), Established Relationship, Game: Kingdom Hearts III, Human/Vampire Relationship, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kissing, M/M, Mild Blood, Mysterious Tower (Kingdom Hearts), Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts III, POV Riku (Kingdom Hearts), POV Third Person Limited, Protective Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Realm of Darkness (Kingdom Hearts), Riku Loves Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Sora Loves Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Studying, Training, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26414680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cait_Sidhe/pseuds/Cait_Sidhe
Summary: Sora convinces Riku to teach him how to control darkness. Things are going well until Sora accidentally creates a portal to the Realm of Darkness—and can't make one back out!However, perhaps the situation isn't as bad as it seems, as the two discover when they encounter two unexpected people there...
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: The Accidental Vampire [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777057
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42





	Unexpected Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I planned for the major events in this to happen later in the series, but what was supposed to be a fluff piece about a nice date followed by training turned into much more. I feel like I should have expected that with this series; it keeps throwing me for unexpected loops.
> 
> Although this can technically be read without reading the others, I do recommend at least reading the notes on the series page to get an idea of the AU's general format if you're starting here. It's also to the point that events from other works in the series are being referenced without full explanations of them, so reading the others first would be ideal if you want to understand everything going on.

“Riku! You’re back!” Sora declared excitedly. He didn’t bother going around the mahogany library table he had been studying at, instead opting to kick the hardback chair away as he propelled off it to vault over the table, knocking books all over.

Riku laughed as he opened his arms to catch Sora, who had practically tackled him in a hug. “Sora, it hasn’t been that long!”

“Feels like it,” Sora mumbled into Riku’s chest.

“So, how’s house arrest?” Riku asked teasingly, knowing very well that Sora was not at all happy about it, especially since Yen Sid always insisted they study when stuck at the Tower.

Sora sighed dramatically. “It’s been three days, and I already feel like I’m going to die of boredom! I swear Yen Sid sent literally everyone else on missions right now just to torture me.”

“Hey, well, I’m back now,” Riku reminded Sora.

“Yeah but for how long? I bet you anything he’ll have you leave in the morning for somewhere else.”

Riku sighed. “Well, yeah; technically I’m still on a mission, remember? Mickey wanted to stop by here briefly for some reason that I’m pretty sure was just an excuse to let me see you.”

Sora looked confused. “Huh? Why?”

“...Really?”

“Oh,” Sora realized. “He doesn’t want me getting too hungry again? But he knows I can go for more than three days,” Sora said, sounding a bit annoyed.

“It’s not a lack of trust,” Riku quickly assured. “It’s just that we don’t know exactly where the search will lead us, so we have to stop here when we can in case it takes us somewhere far,” Riku explained. He and Mickey had been tasked with following Aqua’s trail in hopes of finding the lost Master; they’d tried the Realm of Darkness first, but the results were inconclusive so they were looking in places she’d been before to see if anyone she knew had any clues.

“Then just take me with you,” Sora said simply. “It’ll make things a lot easier.”

Riku sighed. “I told Yen Sid that, but he’s adamant that you stay here for the full two weeks. Plus, if we end up visiting the Realm of Darkness again—” 

“I told you, I should be immune!” Sora interrupted.

“We don’t know that for certain, Sora,” Riku said patiently. They’d had this discussion before: Sora’s theory was that, since he was now a vampire, which was classified as a dark creature, he should be fine in the Realm of Darkness; Riku’s was that the darkness would influence Sora more because of that, not less. The last thing they needed was Sora going into ‘rage-form’ in the Realm of Darkness, seeing as the vampirism had powered up that form: now it could absorb darkness from the things it killed in order to extend the duration. In a world of darkness, it’d end up being infinite without outside intervention.

“Well then let’s test it. You said we could,” Sora reminded Riku, who cringed. Right, he had told Sora that; he’d hoped Sora had forgotten.

“Sora—”

“You weren’t lying when you said that, were you?” Sora demanded.

Riku sighed. “No, I wasn’t lying. But I don’t want to risk anything happening that we can’t control...”

“Then teach me.”

“Teach you? Teach you what?”

“To control the darkness,” Sora explained. “You can, so why can’t I? Vampire darkness can’t be that different from yours. It also basically possesses me when I fully give into the vampire instincts, and you have experience with dark possession, so you could help with that too, right?”

Riku thought about that for a moment. Could he teach Sora that? He’d prefer that Sora didn’t use the darkness at all, but the darkness was already there and forcing itself out periodically. Controlling the darkness in limited amounts was a much better alternative.

“Come on, Riku, Pleeeaaaaase?” Sora dramatically begged, clasping his hands together and giving him puppy-dog eyes. Fuck; Riku was always weak to that (when it came to Sora, that is. Sometimes Kairi too. Those two were master manipulators, at least when it came to Riku's emotions).

“I’ll think about it,” Riku said, though he knew actually avoiding doing this was a lost cause—Sora would undoubtedly just keep pressing until Riku gave in.

“Yayyyyyy!” Sora cheered, apparently taking that as a yes (which, okay, it effectively was). “We can start now?”

Riku chucked. “Right now, it’s getting late, and I do need to eat something. We can talk to Yen Sid about it tomorrow; maybe he’ll let you out of studying to practice.”

“Ugh, that’ll be the day,” Sora said dejectedly, moving to collect the books from the floor.

“What’s he having you read today, anyway?” Riku wondered, helping Sora sort them.

“All of it’s crap about the Power of Waking and similar shit. As though reading about it will magically make me acquire it. I told him I absolutely suck at book learning, but he ‘finds that idea utterly ridiculous’.” Sora explained, using air quotes on the last bit. “Apparently he thinks books are miracle workers.” He flopped back into his chair.

“Yeah, he’s kinda stuck in his ways,” Riku acknowledged, sitting on the table near Sora instead of grabbing a chair. The wizard seemed to think everyone learned via the same methods and that inability to learn in those ways just meant not having enough drive or focus. The idea that some people actually had trouble reading even when they tried their hardest was foreign to him. “Want me to help?” Riku suggested.

“What, like you did when we were kids?” Sora asked, sounding amused.

“Well, yeah.” When they were younger Riku would help Sora study subjects such as history and literature by the two acting the things out; Sora had been (still was?) really into theater, so that kind of more interactive presentation of the information had helped facts stick much better than more typical studying methods like flash cards and rereading notes. 

“I dunno if we can do that with these,” Sora said with a sigh, voice heavy with disappointment.

“Who says we can’t?” Riku grabbed a book and opened it to a page that had been bookmarked. “Let’s see… ah.”

“Yeah, not exactly things you can act out, far as I can tell.”

“Do you understand any of this?” Riku asked. He couldn’t make heads nor tails of the dense paragraphs (full of extremely archaic language) and complex diagrams.

“Nope.”

“Are there any simpler books? Or are they all like this?” Riku asked as he looked around the table at the multitude of extremely dense and decaying books. Generally one started with the basics when learning a new subject, not complicated books like these. 

“They’re all like that,” Sora confirmed. “I literally have to read each paragraph a dozen times to even understand a little of what it’s saying. And some of them use so many really old words that they basically become ciphers that I have to decode.” Sora gestured to one of the books, which Riku noted was a dictionary, on top of which was a notebook full of random words.

“Shit. How many hours have you been sitting here?”

“Uhhhh… I started around ten? I took a nap halfway through since the words started swirling around too much, but Yen Sid woke me up by hitting me with a broom.”

“He WHAT?” Riku asked in shock.

Sora shrugged. “It was just the bristles. Mickey warned me he does that. Better than Donald’s staff at least.”

Riku was sure his mouth was hanging open. “Donald’s… Sora, how often does that happen!?”

Sora recoiled a little. “Look, it’s not a big deal. Last time I caught it, thanks to vampire reflexes. And he does it to Goofy too.”

“But, Sora—”

“Drop it, please,” Sora snapped, then immediately apologized. “Sorry, guess I’m a little on-edge.”

Riku frowned. He’d drop the subject for now, but wouldn’t forget it. “Do you need blood?” Riku wondered. Sora could get edgy when hungry.

Sora shook his head. “No, just tired. Trying to concentrate on all this is super draining.”

“Well, yeah, you haven’t had a break in hours,” Riku noted. Then, he had an idea. Riku hopped off the desk and grabbed Sora’s wrist, dragging him away. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Huh? Go where?” Sora wondered, not protesting.

“Twilight Town. You need a break, and I need food. It has both.”

“Yeah but I’m not allowed to leave the Tower,” Sora reminded him.

“No, you’re not allowed to use the GummiShip. Twilight Town requires a tram.”

Sora laughed. “I don’t think that’s what Yen Sid had in mind.”

“Well, we found a loophole,” Riku said as they found their room. “Now, put your shoes on. Quickly, before he notices.”

Sora did so, then the two proceed down the long spiraling staircase. 

“Riku, he lets me on the grounds, you know," Sora reminded Riku. "We can just walk around them. There’s like a whole forest out back, remember?”

“So, you don’t want to go on a date?” Riku asked, smiling playfully at Sora as they exited the Tower.

Sora squeaked and blushed; it was so adorable! “Yes, I want to go on a date!” Sora quickly said.

“Good, because that’s what we’re doing,” Riku said, pausing to pull Sora into a quick kiss before taking off again. He smiled upon seeing Sora’s starstruck expression; it looked like the brunette would float away (despite the two having been dating for months, Sora still got giddy at simple affectionate gestures. So did Riku, actually, though he liked to think he was better at hiding it).

The tram arrived immediately as the two reached the edge of the front lawn of the Mysterious Tower. They hurried onto it, and once they sat down the tram took off.

Riku looked out the window, admiring the view; he never got tired of gazing at the strange scenery of GummiSpace. However, this scenery did not last nearly as long as usual.

“Why are we slowing down?” Sora asked in confusion only a few minutes later. “We shouldn’t be…” as Sora trailed off his eyes comically widened as he gazed out the window.

Riku sharply turned to follow Sora's line of sight. “Fuck,” he declared.

The tram released a burst of air as it ground to a stop. The doors opened, and space seemed to warp as the tram forcibly ejected Sora and Riku before vanishing. The two boys landed face-down in the grass on the edge of the Mysterious Tower's front lawn. Riku looked up at the imposing figure of Yen Sid, unable to get up as Sora was lying on top of him.

“And just where do you two think you are going?” The wizard asked them with a frown, arms crossed. He reminded Riku of an angry parent… and Riku and Sora were the naughty children.

Sora attempted to explain. “You only said I couldn’t use the ship to visit other worlds! How was I supposed to know that included the tram and Twilight Town?”

“You know very well that it does.”

“Sora, I don’t think you’ll be able to argue this one,” Riku said flatly. “And could you get off me?”

“Oh, right,” Sora said, and scrambled up to standing, Riku following.

“I’m sorry, Master,” Riku said immediately with a small bow. “I’m the one who convinced Sora that it’d be okay to go with me.”

Yen Sid looked momentarily surprised at that before collecting himself back to his usual stoic demeanor. “I see Sora’s irresponsible nature has rubbed off on you, then. Very well. Sora, go back to your studies. Riku, help the brooms clean the art gallery.” Yen Sid swerved around sharply and strode briskly back to the Tower, whose doors opened for him automatically as Riku and Sora pondered the fact that apparently the Tower had an art gallery. 

“Sheesh,” Sora said as he and Riku started heading inside, too, at a much more relaxed yet still agitated pace. “He’s like a grandparent—and not the fun kind.”

Riku chuckled (not that he was very amused, but he needed to latch onto something to quell the instinct to go punch the wizard in the face). “Yeah, but don’t let him hear you say that!”

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

“Riku!” Sora proclaimed happily as he leapt into the air and belly-flopped on top of Riku, who had just laid down on the bed, quite tired from dusting over a hundred paintings (some of which Riku was pretty sure we're considered 'lost' on some worlds).

“Ooof,” Riku grunted as the air was knocked out of him. “Sora, why are you so hyper?” Riku complained. “And why are you still in your day clothes? I thought you went to get changed.” Riku, on his part, was wearing boxers and nothing else.

“Well I was going to, but then I had to talk to Yen Sid!” Sora explained, arranging himself to be perfectly aligned with Riku, holding his upper body up with his forearms propped on Riku’s chest. Riku automatically rested his hand on Sora’s waist.

Riku raised an eyebrow. “Really? What’d you do this time?” he teased.

Sora frowned. “Nothing! I went to him willingly, for your information.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup! I wanted to ask him about having you stay here for a bit!”

“Oh.” Riku said, sighing. “Let me guess, he said something about me having responsibilities and crap?”

“Nope! Guess again!” Sora said, and Riku realized the brunette was much too excited to have been given bad news. So then…?

“Ummmm. He said you can go with me?” Riku asked hopefully.

Sora sighed and collapsed his arms for dramatic flair. “Ugh. I wish!” he said into Riku’s chest.

“Then, what?” Riku asked. “He actually said I can stay here with you?”

Sora lifted himself up again. “Yup! Well, sorta. You have to train me if you stay. Mickey was conveniently there, and thought it was a good idea! He said he can do some research on his own while you help.”

“Help with what?” Riku asked, suspicious. He was elated to be able to spend more time with Sora, always, but the wizard was tough to sell things on, so there must be some sort of catch.

“You know, training,” Sora said, somewhat evasively (and perhaps slightly distracted by the way Riku’s hands now rested on his hips, thumbs above the brunette’s waistband and slightly under his shirt, rubbing small circles into the skin).

“What specific kind of training?” Riku pressed, sensing that was the catch.

“You know! What we talked about earlier,” Sora said, looking slightly worried. “Did you really forget?”

Riku thought about it for a moment. “Oh,” he said in realization (causing him to stop his stroking). “Controlling darkness? You were serious about that?”

“Of course I was!” Sora said with indignance (and a slight wiggle of hips to get Riku to continue his soft brushes on Sora's skin). “And you agreed to, anyway.”

“I said I’d think about it,” Riku pointed out (as he slid his hands further up Sora's sides).

“Which basically means ‘I would say no if it weren’t Sora but because it is Sora I know I’ll eventually give in but I’m not enthusiastic about it so I’m going to just give a noncommittal answer and hope Sora forgets about it’.”

Riku stared at Sora, unsure what to say. He felt strangely transparent; Sora had hit the nail on the head, so to say.

“Well? I’m right, aren’t I?” Sora prodded.

Riku sighed and gave Sora a fond smile. “Yeah, you’re right. But, actually thinking about it, it is probably the best course of action,” Riku admitted. “I’m not thrilled to teach you how to use darkness, but I have to if the only alternative is… well, you know.” Rage-form.

“Yeah, I know… hey, can I have a snack?”

Riku chuckled, arms completely under Sora's shirt now, causing it to ride up significantly. “Sora, you know you never ask to ask.”

Sora grinned. “I know.” He ducked his head down, quicker than Riku had expected, and Riku let out a strange cross between a gasp and a moan as Sora drove his fangs into the soft flesh where Riku’s neck met his shoulder.

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

A week later found Riku and Sora outside in the training yard in the back of the Tower, which had provided the boys a myriad of differently sized and shaped targets floating at varying heights. Sora was making incredible progress at controlling his darkness, already able to release it in small bursts to create projectiles and cloaking his keyblade in it to reinforce some of his physical attacks (Riku was a little jealous, quite frankly—he knew Sora had always caught on quickly to physical techniques as opposed to his dismal attempts at book theory, but still. It had taken Riku much longer to work some of these things out, although he also had to do so mostly alone, which probably factored in too).

“Nice job!” Riku praised, as Sora managed to unleash a circle of five projectiles, one which Riku had to dodge. Sora’s aim still needed much improvement; only one target had actually been hit, and only barely.

Sora beamed, putting his hands behind his head as he soaked in the praise. “Thanks!”

Another thing Riku had noticed was how happy Sora was while doing this training. One would think he’d never had anyone tell him ‘good job!’ before (at least in the time since the Islands had fallen, which Riku still felt immense guilt over, possessed and manipulated notwithstanding)… and, well, maybe they hadn’t, Riku realised. All Yen Sid ever seemed to have was criticism, and he couldn’t see Donald showering people with praise based on general personality (Riku refused to go on missions with the duck). 

Sora frowned, looking at the targets. “You’re not just saying that, are you? I only hit one target…”

Riku shook his head. “Of course not. I really mean it; you’re doing really well! It took me weeks to get that, and even longer to accurately hit anything!”

Sora looked absolutely awed. “Really?”

Riku nodded. “You’re doing extremely well. You’re a fast learner; I’m actually really impressed!”

Sora acquired a dazed expression and looked like he might topple over.

“Hey, there’s something I want to try,” Riku said, before Sora actually could faint from the praise. “If you’re uncomfortable let me know, but I was just wondering if you could do something I can’t.”

Sora frowned. “Something you can’t?”

“Yeah. It’d be related to your vampirism, something darkness-related you did when you weren’t in control…”

Sora scrunched his brow in thought. “Something I did…” his eyes then widened in realization. “What?! Seriously?! Riku, I can’t! What if it makes me go into rage-form?!”

“It didn’t when you encountered the replica.”

Sora shifted nervously. “I guess… but, what use would doing that even have?!”

“A lot, actually,” Riku explained. “It could help people possessed by darkness.”

Sora blinked, considering that. “I guess…” he finally said. “But, are you sure? I assume I’d be trying it on…”

Riku held out his wrist. “I trust you,” he said simply. “Just try taking a little bit. If it gets to be too much, I’ll stop you, don’t worry.”

“Well, okay…” Sora said, nervously walking up to Riku and taking his wrist in his hands. He looked Riku in the eyes. “You’re really sure about this?”

Riku smiled gently at Sora. “Of course. Just relax; you’ll be fine.”

Sora nodded. “Right.” He opened his mouth and leaned down, then closed it again. “Wait. I already had your blood this morning. What if—”

“Sora, you didn’t have much at all for one, and for two, you’re just going to be drinking a tiny bit of the darkness, not the blood.”

“Yeah but what if I take blood anyway? By accident?”

“Like I said, you only had a bit earlier. Plus, I heal quicker than your average human, remember? Which includes blood replenishing,” Riku reminded Sora.

Sora smiled nervously. “Right.” He took a deep breath then pressed his fangs into Riku’s wrist.

Riku realized that he’d actually never had Sora drink from his wrist before—the brunette always went right for the neck, particularly since they usually were fooling around while he drank (and by that Riku meant everything short of actual penetrative sex—despite Sora sometimes asking to, Riku wasn’t quite ready for that). Sora’s fangs in his wrist felt odd, especially as the venom began blossoming from the bite, sending pleasant tingles along the arm. 

Wait, Riku was getting distracted; he had to concentrate, make Sure Sora was on track. Which, he was, despite all his worry. Sora was going very slowly, but he was indeed managing to drink mostly darkness (a few drops of blood got mixed in that had dripped out naturally, but it wasn’t being sucked out). A small amount of darkness could be seen gathering under Riku’s skin in that area, darkening it in fractilating patterns—which was rather creepy, actually. It dissipated once Sora unlatched his fangs.

“You did it!” Riku said with a smile, managing not to flinch as Sora looked at him with wide ochre eyes. Which made sense as he’d just absorbed darkness, but seeing Sora with darkness-tainted eyes was still nerve-wracking for Riku. 

Sora wiped some lingering trails of darkness from his mouth with his sleeve, then grinned as his eyes gradually faded back to his usual enthralling sky blue. “I did it!” He proclaimed, mirroring Riku, then leapt into his arms and cuddled his face into Riku’s chest. “Thank you.”

“Thank you? What are you thanking me for?” Riku asked, confused. "You're the one who did it."

“You encouraged me to try it,” Sora explained. “And you’re right; this can be useful!” Then Sora looked up at Riku, frowning. “But wait. If I removed some of your darkness…”

“It’ll replenish,” Riku said with certainty. “Just like yours does; what do you think we’re doing when we use it for projectiles and stuff? It’s the whole reason we’re teaching you to do that—it’ll help stop it from building to high enough levels for rage-form to activate.”

“Right, I knew that,” Sora said with a nervous chuckle. Then, his eyes lit up. “Oh! Hey, do you think I could make a dark portal?!” He asked excitedly.

Riku blinked, briefly thrown by the topic switch. He thought for a moment. “Um. Maybe?" he concluded. "Those things are dangerous, though. And I can’t make them anymore to use as an example…”

“Well, you can still teach me the concept,” Sora argued. “Come on, it’d be so useful!”

“I suppose… But you can’t just go into one as you are! We don’t know how immune you are yet!” Riku warned, although they would have to go find that out eventually… Riku had told Sora they could go to the Realm of Darkness to check for that, and he was sure Sora would not forget. Riku was not looking forward to such.

Sora grinned mischievously. “Which is why I brought these,” he said, pulling out some dark cloaks from his pocket.

Riku sighed. “Oh for goodness… fine. But only to move across the yard! We are not getting in trouble for traversing worlds when we’ve been told to stay on the grounds!”

“Yeah yeah, I know,” Sora said with a roll of his eyes. “So! Let’s do this!”

“Well, the concept is pretty simple,” Riku said. “But it does require a lot of focus.”

“I can focus!” Sora said petulantly.

“I know,” Riku said hurriedly, realizing how what he said could be misconstrued due to people often scolding Sora for not focusing. “I didn’t mean to imply you can’t. I’m just trying to teach it how I was taught…”

“Someone taught you?” Sora asked, confused. “Who—oh, right. Um. If it’s uncomfortable for you, you don’t have to.”

Riku shook his head. “No, it’s fine. It’s long in the past. So, ready? Hold your hand out, and focus on gathering darkness in front of you. Feel the energy of it, and will it into creating a portal. When you do, it’ll only be open for a short amount of time, especially on your first try. You then have to concentrate on where you want to go when you enter it.”

“That’s it?” Sora asked, skeptical.

“Well, yeah. But it takes a while to get the hang of—oh, okay. Nevermind.” Riku stared at the portal in disbelief. Did Sora really get it on his first try? Riku felt a little jealous. Okay, a lot jealous. But it was justified this time. 

“I did it!” Sora proclaimed. He jogged towards it, but Riku grabbed his hand first. 

“Wait, I’ll go with you, just in case,” Riku decided. “Remember, concentrate on where you want to go! If you don’t you could end up anywhere, even the Realm of Darkness.”

It was good that he did insist on going, as the corridor opened up not on the grounds as it should have, rather in the Realm of Darkness. Riku belatedly realized that he shouldn’t have mentioned the place right before going in, as that made it much easier for Sora’s attention to drift to it, altering the path. Riku turned to pull Sora back in… only to find that the corridor had closed.

“Hmm.” Sora mused, seemingly unconcerned. "Well, while we're here, let’s test if I’m immune.” Riku had to wonder if this had been Sora’s plan from the start, or if ending up there truly had been unintentional. 

Riku pondered that momentarily. “Okay,” he agreed. They were already there, after all.

Sora shucked off his dark cloak and stood there for a moment. “Um. I don’t feel any different.”

“It’ll probably take more than a few seconds,” Riku said with a chuckle and fond smile. “Come on, let’s walk around a bit.”

So, the two walked hand in hand for a while. Exactly how long was unknown, as time worked strangely in the Realm of Darkness.

The two eventually stopped to sit on some glowing blue rocks.

“I still don’t feel any different,” Sora stated.

Riku frowned; Sora was looking at a random point in the distance, but… “Sora, look at me for a second, will you?”

Sora turned, and Riku gasped. Sora’s eyes were shining gold.

“What’s wrong?” Sora asked, matching Riku’s frown.

Riku shook his head. “It’s not a big deal if you don’t feel different otherwise, but your eyes are yellow again.”

Sora sighed. “Dammit. I guess I’m not that immune, then.”

Riku shook his head. “Not necessarily. The vampire part might just be reacting to all the darkness in the air. If you don’t feel any different otherwise, then it’s probably fine. Definitely should be for the portals. But, I’d wear the dark cloak here just in case.”

Sora nodded. “Yeah, good idea.” He put the cloak back on.

“I think there’s no reason you can’t go here on missions now,” Riku said. “It seems just as safe for you as any of us.”

Sora rolled his eyes. “Try telling that to Yen Sid.”

Riku laughed. “Okay, you have a point there," he acknowledged. Maybe he actually would try talking to the wizard about that, if he could gather enough confidence. "Anyway, let’s get out of here now,” Riku decided.

Sora nodded, then held his hand out… but try as he might, Sora was unable to open a corridor out.

Before he could panic too much, Riku told Sora, “That’s okay. We have GummiPhones; Mickey can come get us.”

“But we’ll get in trouble!” Sora said, slightly panicked. “Fuck. This was a bad idea, Riku…”

“Shhh, it's okay, Sora,” Riku said, putting his hand on Sora’s shoulder. “Hey, we can try to get out a different way first if you want. It’s possible the barrier between worlds is just stronger in this area; we’ll just have to search for a place where it’s weaker.” It was a weak theory, but it was something to assure both himself and Sora.

“Like the beach?” Sora suggested. “That’s where we got out before…”

Riku nodded. “The beach is perfect.” Hopefully. Riku actually didn’t know much about it, but they had to latch onto something to stay sane. “Put your cloak back on, just in case,” he instructed, and Sora complied. “Hood up too,” Riku reminded Sora, as he put his own up. “Just in case.”

“In case of the darkness, or in case we run into someone?” Sora asked, raising his hood as well. 

“Both.”

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

After about an hour of looking with no results, Riku began to consider that maybe they should tell Mickey, repercussions be damned. Besides, chances were more than high that Yen Sid had noticed they were missing. It’d be better to get things out of the way now, and simply explain that it was a mistake; surely Mickey would understand, and be able to convince Yen Sid not to be angry.

Just as Riku was about to suggest such to Sora, someone in a dark cloak appeared in front of them. Riku realized with a start that he and Sora had their hoods down, despite what Riku had said earlier about keeping them up; so much for anonymity. Was this a friend or a foe? Both Riku and Sora automatically took battle stances.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, it’s just me!” the dark cloak said, waving his arms before removing his hood to reveal a man with blonde mulletted hair. “Sheesh. You know, you two gotta get a new image or something; almost thought you two were your annoying light counterparts.”

“How do you know we’re not?” Riku said, eyes narrowed.

“Uh, your eyes, duh! The light people have blue. Yours are gold and… green? Huh? Wait, you ARE the replica, right?”

“Don’t call me that,” Riku hissed, realizing that somehow this guy, clearly a member of Organization XIII, had mistaken them for other members. Namely, Riku’s replica, who Riku knew would be highly offended upon being called such (hence the rebuttal), and… and who? Was there a replica of Sora now, too? Riku filed that information away for later.

“Yeah, yeah. So what’s with the green, huh? Shouldn’t they be gold? And like, the real—er, I mean, the other one—has blue, right?”

“Uh. Magical mishap?” Riku tried. He actually wasn’t quite sure why his eyes were green now, but it had happened after the Mark of Mastery exam. Riku’s best theory was that, since he finally had fully accepted both the darkness and the light as a part of him, the yellow of the darkness blended with his original blue, making green. It seemed the Organization had no idea of that occurrence.

“Yeah, that tracks,” the guy said casually. “You suck at magic. So, anyway, where have you been, buddy? No one’s seen you! And Vani, you just up and vanished the other day, too, complaining about being bored… Wait, don’t tell me: you two took a page out of your counterparts’ book and ran off together?”

“Ran off together?” Sora asked blankly, most likely still processing that there apparently was someone in the Organization that looked like him.

“Uh, yeah! Man, you must be really out of the loop! Apparently the two haven’t been on any missions lately; rumor has it they got sick of it all and decided to run off and elope. Old ‘Norty is pretty pissed, actually; he was really banking on them being Guardians of Light, you know? No idea how they’re going to get enough now. I don’t blame them, though. Or you two. Honestly I’m a bit sick of this all too, you know? Hey, actually, mind if I join you? I could use a break.”

Riku looked at the guy, processing all that. “Uh,” he said intelligently, unsure how to respond.

“Ooooh, right, you two probably want alone time, huh? I’ll get out of your hair, then… Oh wait. Have you seen a woman named ‘Aqua’ around here? I’m supposed to be looking for her.”

“Aqua? Never heard of her,” Sora lied.

The guy sighed. “Aww, man. Hey, if you’re chilling down here anyway, mind telling me if you see her? I kinda wanna go take a nap.”

Riku blinked. “Uh, sure…?”

“Awesome. Well, see ya!” The guy gave a small wave and vanished through a dark corridor.

Riku and Sora ran towards it, but it was already too late. Sora tried to make one in the same spot, to no avail.

“That was… interesting,” Riku commented.

“Yeah,” Sora agreed. He fished his GummiPhone out of his pocket. “I’m going to make some notes so we don’t forget,” he explained, opening up a memo app.

“Look at you, being all responsible,” Riku teased.

Sora smiled and gave Riku a playful shove. “Yeah, yeah. So, let’s see…” He turned to the phone and began typing—or rather, one finger began pecking at the keypad. “First, they’re looking for Aqua too, which is definitely not good.”

“Agreed,” Riku said. “We’ll have to increase our search efforts so they don’t find her first.” Riku wasn’t sure what they wanted with the wielder, but it couldn’t be good. Maybe a vessel since they were short some?

Sora nodded. “Yeah. Okay, next, they think the replica of you is still alive. There’s also apparently a replica of me that Demyx called ‘Vani’—”

“His name was Demyx?” Riku asked, cutting Sora off.

“Oh, yeah, I met him last year,” Sora said, not looking up from the phone nor providing more information. “Um, hold on, what else did he say? Oh, right, he and this ‘Vani’ person are getting bored—”

“What’s that have to do with anything?” Riku wondered.

“Internal dissect.”

“You mean dissent?”

“Yeah, that. So, maybe the Organization isn’t so organized. Didn’t you say they once tried staging a coup? Maybe we can get them to do that again… um, what else was he saying? I’m already forgetting,” Sora admitted.

“They think you and I ran off, leaving us two guardians short,” Riku reminded him.

“Right! Which apparently really screws up ‘Old Norty’s’ plan. But they’re also two short because now they think two of their members took off together too,” Sora reasoned. “Well, one of them did. The other we know is dead, which apparently they don’t know.”

“Right,” Riku confirmed. “Okay, now let’s find a way out of here so we can tell the others all this… and make sure to keep our hoods up this time.”

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

“Well, here’s the beach,” Riku stated the obvious, the two arriving hand-in-hand.

“It looks exactly the same as it did half a year ago,” Sora commented.

“Yup.” Riku squeezed Sora’s hand. “Ready to try the portal again?”

Sora bit his lip, then swore and used a cure spell. Riku tried not to laugh; Sora kept forgetting about his fangs (it was kinda cute, actually). Sora raised up the hand that wasn’t holding Riku’s and concentrated. A portal began forming…

And then fizzled out.

“Well, so much for that,” Sora said bitterly.

“Hey, look, you formed it a little,” Riku said. “Maybe you just need to rest a bit, gather your strength. You did work very hard training earlier.”

“That’s true,” Sora agreed. He sat down in the sand, and Riku followed, still holding Sora’s hand. “Man, this brings back memories, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Riku agreed, looking across the dark water towards the gigantic moon in the distance. “Is it bad that it’s a happy memory for me? The time we were stuck here, that is. Obviously being stuck wasn’t good, but even so…”

“No, it’s not bad,” Sora said wistfully, squeezing Riku’s hand. “It’s a good memory for me, too.”

“Well aren’t you lucky,” came a bitter female voice off to the side of the two. They turned to see a woman clad in a fairly revealing shadowy outfit. It looked like perhaps it previously had been blue. Her eyes were bright gold—a sign she was possessed by darkness, which made sense as she didn't seem to be wearing any protection. “Not all of us had enjoyable times in the Realm of Darkness. Some of us suffered. Suffered for over a decade.”

“A decade…” Riku mused as he and Sora stood up, prepared to defend themselves if necessary. An uneasy feeling washed over him. “Does that mean… are you… AQUA?”

“Who are you to ask that?” the woman said. “Certainly not here to help. No one wearing those cloaks is good news.”

“Wait, you’re wrong!” Riku said, pulling his hood down, and Sora followed his example. “It’s me, Riku. Sora’s here too. Don’t you remember us?” he asked, hoping she did.

Aqua narrowed her eyes. “The two boys from the Islands. Yes, I remember you. Why are you here?!”

“We’re here to rescue you,” Riku half-lied. Originally they hadn’t been, but now they certainly were.

“Rescue me. Hah, good one. No one wanted to rescue me for a decade. Let me guess, you need me for something? Is that the only reason you want to save me now?”

“No!” Sora said. “We just don’t want you trapped here! Come on, Aqua. Come home with us.”

“I don’t believe you,” Aqua said tersely, sinking into a fighting position. She didn’t summon a keyblade, Riku noted. Had she lost hers, or broken it? “If you want to take me, you’ll have to fight me,” Aqua declared.

“Riku?” Sora whispered. “I… she’s like this because of the darkness, right?”

“Yeah,” Riku replied, certain of it. 

“Then if I… what you were saying earlier, how it could be useful…”

Riku frowned. “We only practiced that once, and just a little,” he pointed out.

“Yeah but isn’t it the best option?” Sora pointed out. “I don’t want to, but if it saves her…”

“But what if it tips you over to rage-form?” Riku asked, worried. He knew it was the best option, though…

“You’ll get me out of it,” Sora said confidently. “But, you won’t have to. I know I can do this. If I start to tip over the edge, I’ll stop, okay? Maybe at that point enough will be out that she can get control of herself on her own.”

“Okay… just, be careful,” Riku said, giving Sora’s hand a squeeze before releasing it.

“Well?” Aqua demanded. “Are you going to fight, or not?”

Riku drew his keyblade. “I’ll create an opening for you,” he said before darting towards Aqua.

Aqua immediately shot out a dark firaga spell, which Riku quickly dodged. Right, she was an expert magic user, or so Mickey had told Riku.

The fight was tough—Aqua lived up to her title of Master, even keyblade-less. Riku found himself sweating and out of breath as he dodged spell after spell, occasionally shooting off one of his own; he usually fought in a more head-on manner, but that was impossible at the moment. Sora seemed to be having some difficulty getting close to her, too, even with using his vampire speed.

Just as Riku started to wonder if maybe they should run and return with backup, Aqua screamed out in pain—Sora had finally slipped through Aqua’s defenses. The vampire grabbed the bluenette from behind and drove his fangs deep into her neck. Possibly too deep, but it was a tough fight; using anything less than full-force would be unwise.

Riku dismissed his keyblade—or rather, tried to. Looking down he realized that it had cracked clean in two. Well, that sucked. Riku tossed it away and walked over to the two, carefully observing. Sora’s face appeared strained; most likely he was struggling to suck out just the darkness, which there seemed to be a lot of. Aqua’s eyes closed eventually, and Riku could sense when the last vestiges of darkness rolled off of her. Plus there was the handy visual of her outfit changing from dark colors to a lighter blue.

Sora didn’t stop, even though he was clearly now drinking blood. Riku shook Sora’s shoulder slightly. “Hey, that’s enough; you got all the darkness.”

Sora gasped and unlatched his fangs; Aqua sank to the ground, Riku catching her by the arm as he lowered her gently. He then grabbed Sora’s arm with his other hand as the brunette looked ready to collapse too.

“Sora, you okay?” Riku asked, looking Sora over anxiously as he put his other hand on Sora’s other arm to better stabilize him.

Sora looked at Riku, eyes golden. “I don’t feel so well,” he muttered, teetering slightly.

“Well, you drank more darkness than you ever did before without going into rage-form,” Riku reasoned. “It’s bound to take a toll.”

“Mhm…” Sora’s eyes fluttered closed, and he fell forwards into Riku’s arms, unconscious.

Riku lowered Sora to the ground next to Aqua, then checked both their vitals. They seemed fine, but Riku used cure spells on them just in case—two on Aqua, as well as a water spell, as she had a bleeding neck wound. So, they would be fine, probably. Riku sat down cross-legged next to Sora, bruising some hair off the brunette’s face and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Riku sighed as he took out his GummiPhone, mentally preparing himself for the conversation before dialing Mickey’s number.

“Riku!” Mickey exclaimed. “Yen Sid just contacted me! He said you disappeared! He’s really mad, you know.”

“It was an accident, I swear!” Riku proclaimed. Yen Sid probably thought they’d run off (which was a fair assumption, considering how many times that had actually happened, plus the fact that they’d tried to again just a few days prior). Riku continued, “But can we talk about that later? Right now I’m trapped in the Realm of Darkness and could really use a rescue.”

“Gosh! That’s certainly not what I expected!” Mickey declared. “Of course I’ll come rescue you. Where specifically are you? Is Sora there, too?”

“I’m at the Dark Beach. Sora is here too, but unconscious. So is Aqua.”

“Aqua! Gosh, you found her? How? And why are they unconscious? Did you get in a fight? The heartless there can be tough.”

“Uh, long story short, she found us, she was possessed by darkness so decided to fight us, Sora drank her darkness, and now they’re both unconscious. I’ll give you more details later; I’d really appreciate a quick rescue, because I kinda also broke my keyblade and really don’t want to have to defend two unconscious people without one.”

Mickey looked slightly surprised as Riku told him everything, but when Riku finished he nodded sharply. “Right. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Mickey hung up.

Riku sighed, lying back onto the ground next to the two, arms pillowing his head. What a mess! But also, not a mess. Somehow things had worked out, the mistake becoming a boon. They finally managed to find Aqua, after all… Riku yawned. That fight had taken a lot out of him—Aqua was quite the formidable opponent… 

Riku woke to someone shaking his shoulder; he shot up to sitting with a shout. Had he actually fallen asleep in the Realm of Darkness?! He swerved around, then relaxed as he saw who it was. “Mickey,” Riku acknowledged.

“Oh, phew! I thought maybe something had happened to ya after all,” Mickey said with unhidden relief. “It barely took twenty minutes to get here, since the beach is really close to the door near Disney Castle, but still, this place is dangerous…” He looked towards the other two. “They’re still the same as when you called, huh?”

Riku turned to Sora and Aqua and checked their vitals. “Yeah. I’m not entirely sure why. For Aqua, it could be that the sudden removal of the darkness was overwhelming, or that Sora accidentally drained too much blood while trying to get the darkness out—we discovered during training he doesn’t have to be in rage-form to drain darkness,” Riku explained upon noting Mickey’s confused look. “For Sora, I think it’s the opposite: he’s not used to having so much darkness when not in rage-form, so his body shut down to protect him while it adjusts. Those are just theories though.”

“I see… so she succumbed to the darkness, after all…” Mickey said quietly, looking at Aqua forlornly.

“Unfortunately, yeah,” Riku said. “But, hey, she’s back now, right?”

“I sure hope so… So, how did you get here in the first place?” Mickey wondered. “I thought you were training today, not going anywhere, let alone here.”

“Ah, that’s… well, we were training… maybe I shouldn’t have let him, but Sora was making really good progress, and he wanted to try making a portal. I swear it was only meant to go across the training grounds! But when we got here he couldn’t make one back out… that’s why we ended up back here, at the beach. I thought since the barrier between the realms is weaker here, it might work, though it didn't. That’s when Aqua appeared…”

“I see. Well, although your barrier theory holds merit, and would prove fruitful in other worlds, the Realm of Darkness doesn't like to let people go easily. Portals in would be much easier to make than ones out… Yes, you need to be especially strong in your darkness control to make a portal out." As Mickey said this, Riku nodded. That'd explain why Demyx could easily make one. Mickey continued, "Anyway, let’s go home. There should be a door near here to the Destiny Islands; then we can call someone to pick us up…” Mickey held out his keyblade, almost like he was dowsing. His keyblade could unlock doors between the realms, but unlike dark portals they were set in specific spots. The keyblade then glowed, and a door opened… about a dozen meters above them.

“Well, that’s not much use, is it?” Mickey said, looking up at it. “Hmm.” Mickey contemplated things for a moment, then raised his keyblade and said a spell that caused rock pillars to emerge from the ground at varying heights, leading to the door.

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

Riku woke to someone poking him in the cheek quite aggressively. He blinked open his eyes, then closed them in reaction to the bright sunlight. Right, the Destiny Islands… They’d successfully gotten out of the Realm of Darkness, and then while waiting for someone to arrive with a GummiShip, Riku had cuddled up next to Sora while he waited for the brunette to wake… Right, Sora… “Sora!” Riku called, opening his eyes, fully awake. He tried to sit up.

“That’s my name!” came a cheery voice Riku recognized well.

“Sora,” Riku sighed in relief, not even annoyed that the reason he couldn’t get up was because of Sora sitting on him. “You’re okay.”

“Of course I’m okay!” Sora said, beaming, then he flopped down onto Riku fully to embrace him. “Thanks to you.”

Riku was sure his face was the color of a ripe tomato. Sora was being so adorable and cuddly! Riku chuckled. “Silly. You’re the one who saved me,” he pointed out, poking Sora on the nose.

Sora sighed, the statement apparently having the opposite effect as intended. “But I’m the one who got us trapped there in the first place.”

“Yeah but if it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t have found Aqua,” Riku pointed out. “Speaking of, is she awake too?” he asked, shaking Sora off him so he could sit up. Well, mostly off; Sora arranged himself to happily lie in Riku’s lap as Riku looked around. 

“Not yet,” Sora replied. “Unless she woke for a bit while I was asleep. I only just woke a minute ago.”

Sure enough, Aqua was lying in the sand a short distance away, still unconscious. Mickey was walking across the beach towards them with Donald and Goofy, who must be the ones picking them up. He could see a GummiShip parked in the distance not-so-well-hidden behind a grove of palm trees.

“Hey, why were you asleep?” Sora wondered, looking Riku directly in the eyes.

“Huh? Me?” Riku asked, somewhat distracted by how Sora’s eyes were still golden. How much time had passed?

“Yeah, did you get knocked out too or something?”

Riku blinked, taking a moment to process. “I guess I got tired out dragging your ass here,” Riku teased, running a hand through Sora’s hair.

Sora crossed his arms and pouted. “I’m not that heavy!” he claimed. Which Riku had to admit was true; Sora’s low weight had often caused Riku to worry, although now that he was an immortal vampire that wasn’t an issue.

“No, but both you and Aqua together are,” Riku clarified. “Did you really expect Mickey to carry either of you?”

Sora laughed. “No, I guess not… oh, hey, Aqua’s pulse changed! I think she’s waking up!”

“Her pulse? How do—” RIku cut himself off. Right, vampire senses. Besides, Sora had already darted off.

Riku quickly followed Sora over to the bluenette, whose eyes were fluttering open.

“Aqua!” Sora proclaimed happily, arriving next to her with Riku.

“Ven!” Aqua gasped, sitting up abruptly.

“Whoa, hey, careful!” Riku said, kneeling down. “You just went through a major ordeal.”

Aqua blinked and slowly looked around. “Are these… the Destiny Islands? When did they fall to darkness?”

Riku shook his head. “You’re in the Realm of Light.”

“The Realm… of Light?” Aqua asked, seeming confused. “Am I… dreaming?”

“Nope!” Sora proclaimed. “You’re 100% awake!”

Aqua seemed unable to process this. Instead she turned to the boys. “Are you… Sora and Riku? You’re so much older now…”

“Well, it’s been over a decade,” Sora explained.

Aqua’s eyes widened as she gasped. Riku could understand; the Realm of Darkness messed with your sense of time, and even halted aging. Chances are she’d only thought it a year or two, not a dozen.

However, this turned out not to be what Aqua was shocked at. “Your eyes are GOLD!” she proclaimed, staring at Sora. “How…? They were blue… Gold is the color of…”

“Darkness, yeah,” Sora acknowledged. “You were consumed by it, and attacked us, so I absorbed it to save you. They should change back sometime today… or maybe tomorrow, I did take in a lot.”

Aqua blinked at Sora. “Absorbed it? How…?”

“It’s a complicated story,” Sora said. “I’ll tell you later. Now we have to make sure you’re okay!”

Mickey came running over, Goofy and Donald in tow. “Aqua!” The mouse called, arriving at the three. He was eye-level with Riku and Aqua, who were still kneeling and sitting respectively. Sora sat down, too, leaning into Riku.

“Mickey,” Aqua acknowledged. Then she scrunched her brow. “Wait. You’re all here… What about Ven? Where’s Ven?! And Terra?!”

Mickey sighed and looked down. “They’re both still missing… or, Terra is, at least. But you know where Ven’s body is, right?”

Aqua nodded. “Yes. I hid it. But I still don’t know how to wake him… do you?”

Mickey shook his head. “No, unfortunately not. The Power of Waking is our best bet, but Sora’s the only one who can potentially use it and he hasn’t unlocked it quite yet. So I think we should withhold on retrieving his body for now until either Sora unlocks it or we figure out something else. Anyway, there’s a lot you have to catch up on; let’s go back to Yen Sid’s. Kairi and Lea should be there now, too.”

“Kairi!” Aqua gasped. “If she’s at Yen Sid’s… does that mean she’s a keyblade wielder?!” Riku wondered how Aqua knew Kairi. 

“Yup!” Sora said happily. “We all are, see?” he summoned his keyblade, then nudged Riku to do the same, which Riku didn’t.

Aqua clapped her hands together. “Oh, that’s so exciting! All three of you, huh?” She smiled, looking pleased.

Sora nudged Riku again. “Riku, show her!” he said.

Riku blushed. “Oh. Um. My keyblade kinda broke.”

“Again?!” Sora’s mouth dramatically hung open for a moment. “How?!”

Riku chuckled at the expression on Sora's face. “Yup. Again.” His gaze landed on Aqua. “You put up a really good fight.”

Aqua gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “I am so sorry!”

Riku shook his head. “It’s not your fault! You were possessed. We all understand that—a little too well, if you catch my drift.”

“I see… I suppose there is a lot to catch up on, then…”

“Exactly!” Mickey said. “So, let’s get back to the Mysterious Tower!”

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

“I see…” Aqua said. “So Terra is…”

“Yes, that seems to be the case,” Mickey told her. Investigating had revealed that Xehanort had possessed Terra, and it was his body that was used to construct Xemnas and Ansem. No one knew what had become of Terra himself.

“I’m sure he’s still in there,” Riku said confidently. “If anyone can get through to him and break him out of the possession, it’ll be you,” he told Aqua.

Aqua smiled. “Thanks, Riku.”

Everyone was gathered in Yen Sid’s study: Riku, Sora, Kairi, Lea, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and of course Yen Sid himself. Oh, and Jiminy, too. They had just finished reviewing everything they knew and informing Aqua of everything major that had happened in the past twelve years since she vanished, most of which had occurred over the past two or so years.

Well, almost everything that had occurred. There was one major thing yet to be revealed, and Aqua seemed to have realized it.

Aqua turned to Sora and said brusquely, “So. I heard all about Riku’s brush with darkness, but have yet to have heard about why you can absorb it and why you have golden eyes.”

Sora cringed, and Riku squeezed his hand. “Everyone else knows. She should know too,” Riku told his boyfriend quietly.

Sora sighed. “I know…” He turned to Aqua and flashed his fangs, which caused her to give a start of surprise. “I accidentally turned myself into a vampire,” he said simply. “With some, er, interesting features.”

“I sense there’s a story here,” Aqua said calmly, though with a slight nervous waver in her voice belying that calm.

Sora explained about his unique brand of dark-vampirism and how it came to be.

“That’s some story,” Aqua said when Sora had finished, looking awed. Then, she frowned. “But, wait. If you’re a dark creature, how are you still a Guardian of Light?” she wondered.

The room went still. It seemed that no one else had considered that, aside from Riku and Sora himself. Everyone turned to look at Yen Sid for answers. The elderly wizard was visibly frowning, and did not answer.

“Master?” Mickey prodded. “Is it possible he isn’t?”

Yen Sid took a moment before responding. “I am not sure,” Yen Sid admitted. 

“Does it matter?” Lea interjected. “I mean, we only need Xehanort to think we have all seven, right? He doesn’t know about Sora being a vampire, after all.”

“That’s a great point,” Aqua praised. “It may also be an advantage, come to think of it: he wants thirteen darknesses to clash with seven lights. He’ll think we’ll have seven even though we’ll only have six. The fight will proceed, but the X-blade won’t be created.”

Yen Sid nodded. “Yes, that all makes sense. So for now, whether Sora is light or dark is irrelevant; all that we need is Ventus back.” He turned to look directly at the aforementioned brunette. “Sora, you must unlock the Power of Waking as soon as possible.”

Sora scowled. “I know that,” he snapped, then winced. “Sorry,” he said, voice calmer and smiling. “I mean, I know. I’m trying my best.”

Riku frowned slightly at Sora's abrupt change in emotion, pondering. Was Sora shoving his emotions away again? He promised he wouldn’t do that again… well, wouldn’t consciously do that. Things had been pretty stressful lately, so it was possible Sora had started reverting to doing that without even realizing… Maybe Riku should ask Sora about that later, remind him to be careful.

“I am aware,” Yen Sid said dryly; it sounded like he didn’t believe Sora actually was trying, which tracked with Yen Sid’s past thoughts on the matter. “Nevertheless, you must remain vigilant, always conscious of the ability, seeking it out. Understand?”

“Yes, I understand, Master,” Sora said pleasantly, showing absolutely no irritation (Yup, he was definitely pushing everything away again; Riku knew Sora must be agitated over that. Either Sora would break down in their room later, or nothing would happen… the latter being the bigger concern).

“Oh, wait!” Riku proclaimed. “Sora, we almost forgot! That guy we met in the Realm of Darkness!” So much else had been going on that it entirely slipped his mind. “What was his name? Demyx?”

“Oh yeah!” Sora said. “He thought we were Organization people. Apparently they have someone who looks like me, probably a replica although Demyx called him ‘Vani’, that they think ran away with Riku’s replica because they’re both missing too. Like, we know Riku’s replica is dead, but I dunno about the one that looks like me. Also apparently there’s internal dissent again, because Demyx was more than willing to run off too because he's bored and fed up with things.”

Everyone took a moment to process this, and then Aqua gasped. “Did you say… ‘Vani’?!” she asked with a note of distress. “That couldn’t be… Vanitas?!”

“You know him?” Sora asked.

“Well… maybe. I can’t be certain without meeting him or knowing the full name. Vanitas was Xehanort’s apprentice, so it’d make sense he’d be with their group. However, he vanished shortly before I did; it’s because of him that Ven is asleep. But even if he is back, I don’t know why he would look like you, Sora…”

“What did he look like before?” Sora wondered.

“He didn’t have a face. He was literally pure darkness.”

“Could he be a shapeshifter, then?” Lea wondered. “Oh, and also, if Demyx is getting bored, he might be willing to switch sides; want me to try contacting him? My Nobody was… well, not really friends with him, but definitely more amicable than with most the other ones. Ienzo might be willing to help convince him, too.”

Yen Sid nodded. “Yes, that is a very good idea. Please do so.”

“Oh! One more thing!” Sora exclaimed. “Apparently the Organization thinks that Riku and I ran away since we haven’t been doing missions. So they think there’s only three Guardians of Light right now. Not really sure if that affects anything though.”

“Oh it very much does affect things,” Yen Sid said with a note of gravity. “If they suspect we’re that many short, they almost certainly will increase their efforts to find more Princesses of Light.”

“Then might I suggest sending them on missions again?” Mickey said. 

Yen Sid raised an eyebrow. “You wish to cut Sora’s suspension and darkness training short?”

Mickey nodded. “Yes. It makes the most sense, doesn’t it?”

Yen Sid thought for a moment. “Very well. I shall lift the suspension. However, Riku, Sora, you still are not allowed to go on missions together, understood?”

Riku and Sora nodded. “Understood,” they both muttered. Damn. Riku had hoped that punishment would have been dissolved too. Although they probably wouldn’t be permitted to go on missions together for the time being regardless—if the Organization thought they ran off together, being seen doing a mission alone together would only reinforce that perception.

Yen Sid nodded slowly. “Good. Now, everyone is dismiss—”

“Wait!” came a small voice. Right, the cricket existed. “Kairi and Lea just returned from a mission. Remember what was agreed?” Jiminy said. 

“Ah, yes,” Yen Sid acknowledged. “The new rule is that all the young wielders must pass a drug test upon returning from unsupervised missions.”

Lea paled at that. “What? You were serious?!”

Kairi’s eyes widened. “Fuck,” she said, violently pulling the door open and darting through before Yen Sid could seal it, Lea following.

Riku blinked. Huh. Well, looks like those two were going to be the ones stuck at the Tower now. Honestly, just as Lea and Kairi had, Riku didn't think that threat of testing them would have a follow-through, either… stupid cricket.

“Well, I believe that answers that,” Yen Sid said casually to Jiminy, who looked like he might faint. “Now, as to the rest of you, get some rest; tomorrow we can discuss what to do moving forwards.”

Moving forwards… Riku thought on that as he filed out of the room with everyone else, Sora still holding his hand. What would happen now that Aqua was found? Would they resume missions as usual, with her added into the mix? Mickey would probably go back to Disney Castle. Would Donald and Goofy go with him? Riku hoped so. Those two had been going on missions with the trainees (Kairi, Lea, and Sora) because Riku was the only Master doing missions and those three needed supervision (well, Kairi and Lea did. Sora was experienced enough not to need supervision, in Riku’s opinion. Still, Yen Sid insisted…), but now Aqua would be there too; would she take the place of Donald and Goofy? ...No, Riku realized. She might get added into missions, but Donald and Goofy would stay. Hopefully not on missions with Riku. Riku briefly considered them possibly sending him somewhere with Sora and Kairi (after the latter's inevitable detention, of course)… but no, that was a lost cause. Sora and Riku were still banned from going on missions with each other. Maybe they’d send Riku with Kairi though. Were Kairi and Sora still banned from missions together too, actually? Wait, had they even been banned? They’d been given a week’s detention, but hadn’t been banned. Well, that hardly seemed fair. Then again, if they banned everyone who got in trouble together from doing missions… right, that’d be why they weren’t doing bans as punishment anymore.

Donald, Goofy, and Mickey walked ahead, talking about something, leaving Riku and Sora with Aqua.

“Am I understanding things right?” Aqua suddenly asked. “That Kairi, of all people, has been doing drugs,” she clarified. “Isn’t she a Princess of Light? And Lea’s a Guardian...”

Sora shrugged. “We’ve all gotten in trouble for it.”

“I haven’t,” Riku pointed out.

Sora rolled his eyes. “Not here, but back on the Islands—”

“Okay, I see your point!” Riku said quickly, not wanting to bring THAT incident up.

Sora snickered slightly. “Anyway, my point is, guess Light and Dark don’t really care about laws and stuff, or society’s views on morality. Kinky sex isn’t out, either.”

“Sora!” Riku said, blushing vigorously.

“I did not need to know that,” Aqua said curtly, looking shocked. Then she glanced at the two’s intertwined hands, a curious expression. “Are you two…?”

“Yes, we’re dating,” Sora confirmed, then narrowed his eyes at the bluenette. “Why, got a problem with that?”

“Oh, no, not at all!” Aqua hurriedly told them. “I’m gay myself. I was just curious; honestly I kinda thought it might end up that way, when I met you two as kids.”

Riku felt himself blush further. “It was that obvious, even then?”

“Is it like a requirement for Guardians of Light to not be straight or something?” Sora suddenly wondered. “Axel—I mean, Lea—is gay too, and Kairi is bi.”

“Mickey’s straight though,” Riku pointed out. “Well, probably.” He’d never really had a talk with the mouse about it, but he was married to Minnie. “Wait,” Riku said as he fully realized what Sora had said. “Kairi’s bi? Since when?”

“Well, I don’t think she fully realizes it yet,” Sora admitted, “But she did noticeably react to Meg back in Olympus, and according to Lea she’s definitely crushing on a girl in Twilight Town big time… hey, what about Ventus? Aqua, do you know?”

“Oh, I have no idea,” Aqua said. “He had no memories when we found him, couldn’t even walk. He learned things very fast, especially with the keyblade, but emotionally his recovery was slow, so in essence he was more of a kid than a teen in that sense. Pretty sure he was still in the ‘romance is gross’ stage when we were all separated.”

Sora put a hand to his chest.

“Sora?” Riku asked, worried. “Something wrong?”

Sora shook his head and lowered his hand. “No, I’m fine.” Then he turned to Riku, a sly grin spreading across his face. “Actually, I am a little hungry…”

“Oh!” Aqua exclaimed excitedly. “Where’s the kitchen? I could make something for everyone! It’s been forever since I last cooked… What’s your favorite food, Sora?”

“Blood,” Sora said in a deadpan tone, though Riku could tell he was hiding a smile.

“Oh!” Aqua proclaimed in an entirely different tone than before. “I am so, so sorry! I wasn’t thinking…” she sounded genuinely remorseful. 

Sora laughed. “I’m just joking with you, Aqua, no need to apologize. Everyone forgets!”

“Just because everyone does something doesn’t make it right,” Aqua said gently but firmly.

“Yeah, I know, Riku tells me that all the time,” Sora said dismissively.

“Because it’s true,” Riku asserted. Sora had trouble defending himself, preferring to let people say and do things to keep them happy at the cost of himself, even if things hurt (which meant shoving his emotions away, which led to rage-form). At the moment it wasn’t a big deal, true, but Riku was trying to get Sora used to the concept of speaking up in general for the times when it was a big deal (like some of the ways he’d noticed a certain duck ‘tease’ Sora—Sora would laugh along, but it was obvious to Riku that many of the comments bothered him, especially ones related to his intellect), so he had to take the opportunity to reinforce the lesson.

“It’s just food,” Sora muttered, sounding annoyed. “What’s the phrase? ‘Choose your battles’?”

“Okay, maybe right now it’s minor, but—”

“I know! We’ve had this argument before, Riku!” Sora said. “I don’t stick up for myself enough, I know. It’s FINE.” Sora stomped ahead, nearly tripping on the stairs as he turned into the corridor of dorm rooms.

“Something tells me it’s not fine,” Aqua said wryly.

Riku sighed. “Yeah, I’ll go talk to him. But first, is there anything you need? Knowing the Tower, it probably already made you a room, which would be down the corridor Sora just went into. It’ll probably have your name on it in some sort of cutesy design, as that’s what it’s been doing lately.” Riku and Sora’s door was currently blue with their names in a highly-flourished font surrounded by stars. Lea’s was red with a fiery rainbow, and Kairi’s had a full mural of the ocean.

“You speak as though the Tower is sentient,” Aqua said with slight worry.

Riku nodded. “Yeah, it’s kinda creepy at first, but you get used to it. I don’t know if it just has a whole lot of spells on it or if the magic actually caused it to gain some sort of will… I’d suggest not trying to think too much about it for sanity’s sake.”

Aqua nodded, a serious expression on her face. “Got it. Now, where’s the kitchen? I haven’t eaten in ten years, you know.”

◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘◙◘◘

“Took you long enough,” Sora, sitting on the edge of their bed, said with a pout as Riku entered their shared room.

“I had to tell Aqua about the rooms and show her to the kitchens,” Riku explained. “I wanted to follow you right away, believe me.”

Sora gave Riku a small smile. “I’m just joking, Riku. Don’t be so serious.”

Riku blinked. “You’re not mad at me?” he asked, referring to when Sora stormed off. 

Sora shook his head. “Nah. I know you’re just trying to help… I think I’m just a little high-strung right now.”

Riku sat next to Sora. “Well, a lot happened, after all.”

“That, and the pressure’s on me to get the stupid Power of Waking more than ever.” Sora sighed. “That seriously can’t be the only way, can it?”

Riku shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not. But Yen Sid seems to think it’s the best option, at least for now. I’m sure you’ll be able to obtain it.”

“And if not?”

“If not we’ll find another way. Ienzo probably can work something out—he studies the heart, after all.”

“Oh! We should call Ienzo!” Sora jumped up and dug through his pockets until he extracted his GummiPhone. “Maybe he has an update on the replicas, or found out who the other heart people are!”

“Hey, hold up!” Riku said, putting his hand over the phone before Sora could dial. “Check the time first; last time you called it was 4am there.”

“So? He was awake. I’m not sure if he even sleeps.”

“Yeah but it’s still common courtesy to call during daylight hours unless it’s an emergency,” Riku pointed out, withdrawing his hand.

“Hmph. You’re no fun,” Sora pouted playfully as he opened the timekeeping app on his GummiPhone, which displayed a list of a few dozen worlds and their current times. “Ha! It’s only 11pm there!”

“Which is still too late,” Riku said.

“Ugh!” Sora dramatically flopped onto the bed spread-eagle. “Riku, do something about that!” he demanded.

“I can’t change time, Sora.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because I don’t have that ability.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not a god.”

“Why not?” Sora was clearly trying to hold back laughter. “I mean, you have the blood of one, right?”

Riku laughed, then sighed fondly. “What am I going to do with you?” he said, gazing down at his boyfriend, who had a shit-eating grin on his face. He couldn’t help but reach down and tickle the brunette’s sides.

Sora squealed. “Riku!” he laughed, wiggling around. “Stop it!”

Riku stopped, laughing too, then bent over Sora and quickly stole a kiss before whispering lasciviously into Sora’s ear, “Now, speaking of my blood… what were you saying earlier about being hungry?”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> So, Aqua has returned before they learned where Ven's heart is; will this change much? Not really, actually: next story will feature Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy encountering Vanitas in Monstropolis! From whose POV, you ask? It'll rotate between characters... one of them being Vanitas himself! How will Sora's rage-form react to a being of pure darkness? You'll have to wait to find out!


End file.
